If NIH has a patent and Baxter has a grant, why are we buying flu vaccine from so many others and not Baxter?

U have asked "buying flu vaccine from so many others" - one company will not be able to supply so many vaccines. There must be a competition among the Parma companies that which vaccine is the best and least side effects. The biggest makers of seasonal flu vaccines in the U.S. are running into delays or cutting back shipments — partly because of the crunch to produce millions of doses of the new swine flu vaccine.

Drugmaker Sanofi Pasteur said it has shipped more than half of the 50.5 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine ordered and it could be November before some U.S. customers get the rest of their shipments.

Novartis AG and GlaxoSmithKline PLC said their shipments are on schedule. But they've told customers they may get about 10 percent less than ordered.

The companies account for about 100 million of the nation's expected 114 million doses.

The delay and cutbacks have already forced some doctor's offices to turn away patients and others to cancel clinics around the country.

The U.K. has ordered 132 million doses of swine flu vaccine from London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Baxter International Inc., based in Deerfield, Illinois. European regulators approved Glaxo’s Pandemrix vaccine on Sept. 29 and the company said it plans to begin shipping the vaccine to European governments next week.

Baxter’s vaccine hasn’t been approved yet and the European Medicines Agency has asked the company for additional information, Director of Immunization David Salisbury said.

The government has ordered 250 million doses of the new vaccine from the same five companies that make the seasonal shots and nasal spray. (Ten percent of the swine flu doses have been promised to other countries.)

The Swiftwater, Pa.-based Sanofi Pasteur, which makes about 45 percent of the country's seasonal vaccine, normally finishes winter flu vaccines by the beginning to middle of October, company spokeswoman Donna Cary said. It expects to run several weeks later this year, she said.

Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, halted its production of the seasonal flu vaccine in July to meet demand for the swine flu version, said company spokesman Eric Althoff. It didn't end up with as much virus stock as expected, so customers will receive a little less than ordered, he said.